The Citadel: Concordance - 12.2. The Nine Free Cities

12.2. The Nine Free Cities

The Free Cities name the Seven Kingdoms Westeros and the Sunset Kingdoms (I: 24)
Magisters, archons, and merchant princes rule the Free Cities (I: 25)
The Dothraki are always carefully dealt with by the Free Cities, given gifts of all manner and manses to keep them from attacking (I: 28)
Unsullied are eunuchs used as household guards in many of the Free Cities, and can often lose their discipline and go to fat because of such soft service (I: 29. III: 96)
Bravos and sellswords are common from the Free Cities (I: 29)
The bravos of the Free Cities use slender swords, edged and balanced for the thrust (I: 81)
The Free Cities speak a bastard version of Valyrian, as most have their origins as colonies of Valyria. They are nine dialects, each on their way to becoming their own language (I: 84. V: 17. SSM: 1)
The Free Cities produce fine velvets and damasks (I: 86)
Some slavers buy hideous slaves for grotesqueries (I: 103)
Trading galleys sail the narrow sea and trade in the Seven Kingdoms, as well as elsewhere (I: 141)
There are men in the Free Cities with marvellous healing skills (I: 146)
Peoples of the Free Cities speak the Common Tongue of Westeros with a particular lilt, which can further indicate the precise Free City they are from (I: 188)
Bravos fight from a sideways stance, weapon extended (I: 188)
Poisoning is common in the Free Cities (I: 213)
In the Free Cities, towers, manses, hovels, bridges, shops, and halls all crowd in on one another (I: 326)
Caravan guards of the Nine Cities wear copper helmets and knee-length tunics of quilted cotton, with swordbelts of woven leather (I: 490)
Pepperwines, fire wines, smokeberry browns, and blackberry wines are made in some Free Cities (I: 492. V: 72, 75, 76)
The Free Cities raise standing armies of professional soldiers (I: 504)
Sellswords sometimes fight in the Rhoyne (II: 147)
In at least some of the Free Cities, concubines are allowed to married men (II: 147)
The Brave Companions (also known as the Bloody Mummers when they're not around, and the Toes of the Goat) are a mercenary company made up of men from many lands of both Westeros and the eastern continent (II: 337. SSM: 1)
The banner of the Brave Companions is a black goat with bloody horns, although this may be the standard of their Qohorik leader (II: 337. SSM: 1)
Dothraki, Jogos Nhai, Summer Islanders, Ibbenese, and men from the other Free Cities (among others) are part of the Brave Companions. Their leader may be of any nationality (II: 337. SSM: 1)
The Brave Companions uses both horses and zorses (II: 337)
Some followers of the Red God (who may or may not be R'hllor) believe that he must have his due. If a life that should have ended is saved, a death must happen in return. This belief may or may not be related to the Faceless Men or the Lorathi specifically (II: 340)
An apprentice's indentures may be sold to someone else in the Free Cities (II: 473)
Men do not lose their hands for thieving in the Free Cities (III: 5)
The Brave Companions are also known as the Footmen, for their leader's habit of cutting off the hands and feet of those who displeased him (III: 36)
Each Free City appears to have its own distinct accent (III: 87)
The leaders of some Free Cities are named dynasts (III: 96)
The Bright Banners and the Second Sons are sellsword companies who existed at least 400 years ago. They fled when Khal Temmo led the Dothraki out of the east for the first time, rather than standing to defend Qohor as they had been paid to do (III: 96, 97)
Eunuchs seem to be commonly used as stewards and record-keepers (III: 111)
Pentos, Norvos, and Myr are on the continent, rather than islands (III: 272)
Bath tubs in the Free Cities are very large, able to hold six or seven people (III: 416)
At least some of the Free Cities fight over the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands, where there's always fighting (III: 433, 756. SSM: 1)
The Stormcrows are a sellsword company (III: 473)
The Stormcrows and the Second Sons seem to be entirely mounted, using lancers and mounted bowmen with swords and axes for close work. They are each about five hundred men in strength (III: 473)
The Stormcrows wear black feathers on their polished helms (III: 476)
The Second Sons are an old company, and not without valor (III: 479)
The wildlings have contact with smugglers from the Free Cities and perhaps Westeros as well, trading goods in the little coves on the eastern coast along the Shivering Sea. They take steel weapons and armor in return for furs, ivory, amber, and obsidian (III: 608)
There is a haunting ballad about two dying lovers amidst the Doom of Valyria, sung in High Valyrian (III: 676)
The Gallant Men are a sellsword company (III: 756)
In the Free Cities, well spoken and gently born slaves are prized. They will become tutors, scribes, bed slaves, and even healers and priests (III: 809)
It is the custom in the Free Cities to keep whipping boys and girls, to take punishment earned by the sons and daughters of the wealthy (III: 909)
The Golden Company has never broken its contract, boasting that its word is as good as gold since the days of their founder Bittersteel. They were founded approximately 200 AC, and were made up of the hundreds landless knights and lords who followed Bittersteel and the surviving sons of Daemon Blackfyre into exile. Some of these men joined existing sellsword companies, such a the Ragged Standard, the Second sons, or the Maiden's Men, but seeing this Bittersteel formed the Golden Company to bind the majority together. Since then, the Golden Company has spent its career in the Disputed Lands, fighting the wars between the Free Cities and hoping to return to the Seven Kingdoms (IV: 197. V: 78)
The Golden Company is said to command 10,000 men (V: 78)
In the Free Cities, offices of government include justiciar, lord treasurer, and grand admiral (IV: 241)
The motto of the Golden Company is, "Beneath the gold, the bitter steel" (IV: 300)
It can be inferred that Lys and Volantis seem to be the southernmost of the Free Cities (IV: 440)
The swiftest way from Pentos to Volantis is by sea (V: 71)
Volantis is the oldest and proudest of the Nine Free Cities (V: 73)
The Free Cities are said to prefer to fight with coin rather than with swords (V: 80)
The Brave Companions go back further than their current leader but are younger than some other companies of sellswords in the eastern continent (SSM: 1)
There are many sellswords on the eastern continent, especially among the Free Cities who have made heavy use of them for centuries in fighting their endless wars over the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands. There are many sellsword companies, or free companies, such as the Brave Companions, the Second Sons, and the Stormcrows. Some companies are little more than rabbles while others are known for their discipline (SSM: 1, 2)
The largest and most famous sellsword company is the Golden Company, that was founded by one of Aegon the Unworthy's bastards. They are known for their discipline (SSM: 1, 2)
Dragonlore has been accumulated in some of the Free Cities (SSM: 1)
There have been attempts in the past from the Seven Kingdoms to lay claim to the Stepstones, a chain of large islands in the narrow sea east of Dorne and Storm's End (SSM: 1)
There are descendants of the Valyrians scattered across the world. Many are in the Free Cities, most of which had their origins as Valyrian colonies, although they have become intermarried and mixed with other peoples (SSM: 1)

Last revised February 21, 2016
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12.2.1. Pentos

Important leaders of Pentos are named magisters (I: 23)
Pentos sits on a bay (I: 24)
Pentos has many square, brick towers (I: 24)
There is no slavery in Pentos, but powerful men can flaunt such laws. This prohibition is due to a treaty that the Braavosi imposed on Pentos about a hundred years prior to the novels (I: 26. V: 21)
Pentoshi men wear dyed, forked beards which they oil (I: 27)
Servants in Pentos wear collars of bronze (I: 29)
Beautiful works of art, such as old carved figures of the Seven, could sell handsomely in Pentos (II: 116)
Some Pentoshi vessels have carved figureheads (III: 89)
Pentoshi ships trade in spices such as saffron and pepper (III: 97, 111)
Pentos is more populous than Astapor on Slaver's Bay, and may be one of the most populous of the Free Cities (III: 266)
Sellswords are common in Pentos (III: 267)
Pentoshi, Braavosi, and Lysene are great lovers of song, and generous with those who please them (III: 356)
Troupes of Pentoshi tumblers are sometimes hired for special events, such as great weddings, in Westeros (III: 676)
Lifelike, painted marble statues (V: 20)
Pentos produces a pale, amber wine (V: 22)
A Pentosi meal of hot peppers and pearl onins in a bowl, a broth of crab and monkfish, cold egg lime soup, quails in honey, a saddle of lamb, goose livers in wine, buttered parsnips, suckling pig with a plum sauce, and mushrooms with garlic and butter. This is followed by heron stuffed with figs, veal cutlets blanced with almond milk, creamed herring, candied onion, foul-smelling cheeses, snails and sweetbread, and a black swan in its plumage (V: 25-26, 28)
It is considered a breach of hospitality to poison a guest at supper (V: 27)
A magister poisoned by a mushroom (V: 27)
The Prince of Pentos has a menagerie containing a pride of lions (V: 28)
The prince presides at balls and feasts, and rides through Pentos in a palanquin of ivory and gold with three heralds before him, carrying the golden scales of trade, the iron sword of war, and the silver scourge of justice. On the first day of each new year, he deflowers the maid of the fields and the maid of the seas. But if a crop fails or a war is lost, his throat is slit and a new prince is chosen from among the forty families (V: 30)
The eastern gate of Pentos is called the Sunrise Gate (V: 71)
The swiftest way from Pentos to Volantis is by sea (V: 71)
A magister's meals: spicy sausage in the morning with a dark smokeberry brown, followed by jellied eels and Dornish reds in the afternoon, and then dinner featuring sliced ham, boiled eggs, roasted larks stuffed with garlic and onions washed down with pale ales and Myrish fire wines (V: 72)
Pytho Malanon, a noted sculptor in Pentos (V: 74)
The road east from Pentos is a Valyrian road, described as a broad stone highway straight as a spear passing through ochre fields and groves of elm trees. The stone has been fused and raised half a foot above the ground to allow rain and snow to run off its shoulders. The roads are wide enough for three wagons to pass abreast. Despite four centuries having passed, the road is unmarred by time or use, showing no cracks or ruts (V: 76, 77)
A magister drinks blackberry wine so sweet that it attracts flies, and then eats blackberries in cream (V: 76)
A magister eats roasted chestnuts and garlic snails (V: 77)
Andalos, the ancestral land of the Andals, lies to the east of Pentos. It is said the Andals took it from the hairy men who were there before men, cousins to the Ibbense. The heart of that realm lies to the northeast of Pentos, but the southern regions are known as the Flatlands in Pentos (V: 79)
Further east beyond the Flatlands lie the Velvet Hills (V: 79)
A wealthy magister wedding a former slave could find himself ostracized by the Prince of Pentos (V: 79)
When a Braavosi galley returning from the Jade Sea stopped at Pentos, it brought the grey death -- greyscale -- with it, as well as cloves, saffron, jet, jade, scarlet samite, and green silk. The Pentoshi slew the oarsmen as they came ashore and burned the ship at anchor, but the rats escaped the ship and spread the illness among the populace. Two thousand are said to have died before the plague ran its course (V: 80)
The Flatlands contain tillers and toilers bound to the land, and orchards, farms, and mines owned by wealthy individuals in Pentos (V: 80)
The Flatlands are relatively sparsely populated, as the Dothraki occasionally pass through. The ruins of towns are testament to their passage (V: 80)
Pentos prefers to buy off Dothraki khalsars with gifts rather than risk fighting them (V: 80)

Last revised February 21, 2016
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12.2.2. Braavos

Braavos has a coast (I: 25)
There is no slavery in Pentos (although powerful men often flout this law), due to a treaty that the Braavosi imposed on Pentos about a hundred years prior to the novels (I: 26. V: 21)
It is not unknown for bravos of Braavos, offering to teach students (I: 188, 189. IV: 11)
The ruler of Braavos is the Sealord (I: 189)
The champion of the Sealord of Braavos is his first sword (I: 189)
A water dancer is supposed to be able to stand on a toe for hours on end, and never falls (I: 214)
Braavos is made up of many islands, as many as a hundred. (I: 374. IV: 91)
The ships of Braavos sail to many strange lands, and the captains often fetch strange creatures for the menagerie of the Sealord (I: 444)
When the first sword of the Sealord is slain, he immediately searches for a replacement (I: 444)
The first sword of Braavos does not run (I: 447)
Braavos seems to have its own language, beyond the bastard Valyrian used for trade (I: 603)
Braavos has many moneylenders (II: 146)
Braavosi daggermen (II: 332)
Braavos may be the nearest to Westeros of the Free Cities (II: 431)
Braavos is the greatest and most powerful of the Free Cities (II: 431)
Some homes in Braavos may have wooden beam supports which are decorated with carved animal faces (II: 511)
"Valar morghulis" is a well-known phrase in High Valyrian, and means "All men must die" (III: 308)
Braavosi, Pentoshi, and Lysene are great lovers of song, and generous with those who please them (III: 356)
A towering Braavosi with a bushy red-gold beard reaching nearly to his belt and pale green eyes (III: 477)
The Titan of Braavos is a famous wonder, a great statue of grey stone which may have firey eyes. It does not have a tail, and there are fantastic stories claiming it will wade into the sea fight in the defense of Braavos and that it is fed the flesh of highborn girls (III: 478, 670, 765. IV: 80)
Dwarf jesters can be hired from Braavos (III: 691)
A Braavosi merchant galleas painted purple with three masts carrying purple sails, two banks of oars, and a gilded figurehead (III: 852. IV: 88)
All Braavosi galleys appears to have their hulls painted purple (III: 852. IV: 88, 91)
All gods are honored in Braavos. There is even a sept, the Sept-Beyond-the-Sea (IV: 89)
Braavos was discovered by the Moonsingers, who led refugees there to a place where the dragons of Valyria could not find them. Their temple is the greatest on Braavos (IV: 89)
The Father of Waters is esteemed in Braavos, but his temple is built anew each year when he takes his bride (IV: 89)
Most other temples to gods are located on an isle in the center of the city, including the temple to the Many-Faced God. This isle is known as the Isle of the Gods (IV: 89, 508)
Braavos is a great lagoon with only one outlet into the sea, which the Titan watches and guards as it straddles over it. The steep slopes on which the collosal citadel and lighthouse stands are covered with soldier pine and spruce (IV: 89-90)
The legs of the Titan are of black granite, the same materials as the sea monts on which it stands. It is armored in greenish bronze: a halfhelm with a crest, a breastplate, and an armored skirt. The Titan’s hair is made of hemp ropes dyed green. There are huge fires kept burning in the caves which are its eyes. One of the Titan’s hands rests on a ridge to the Titan’s left, fingers around a knob of stone, while the other is thrust into the air holding a broken sword (IV: 90)
There are arrow slits in the Titan's breastplate, and more slits in its thighs. There are iron-barred murder holes under its skirts, as well. (IV: 90, 91)
There are stains and speckles from where seabirds have nested on it (IV: 90)
The Titan can issue a powerful roaring sound, like a terrible groaning and grinding. This is to warn the Arsenal of the approach of a vessel, or to mark nightfall (IV: 90, 91, 378)
The Arsenal of Braavos is a sea mont like a knob of rock, fortified with stone battlements and bristling with scorpions, trebuchets, and spitfires. It is the first thing seen when one passes the Titan (IV: 91)
Not only is the Arsenal a citadel, but it is also a dock with room for dozens of galleys beneath it, and along its shores are innumerable quays, docks, and wooden sheds holding many more ships (IV: 91)
The Arsenal is the center of shipbuilding in Braavos, and it is said that it a war galley can be built in a day there (IV: 91)
Beyond the Arsenal is an expanse of murky pea-green water and then the city of Braavos proper, a great sprawl of domes and towers and bridges in hues of grey, gold, and red (IV: 91)
The city of Braavos is flat, with its only "hills" man-made structures of brick, granite, bronze, or marble (IV: 91)
The captain of a merchant galleas holds the rank of Tradesman-Captain (IV: 92, 507)
The Chequy Port is where the Sealord's customs officers board merchant galleys to inspect their holds. The inspection can take as much as half a day (IV: 92)
On approaching Braavos, there are two harbors. The nearer one to the right is crowded with whalers from Ibben, swan ships of the Summer Isles, and numerous galleys, while there is a more distant one to the left beyond a point of land that seems to have sunk into the sea with half-drowned buildings poking above the surface (IV: 92-93)
Braavos seems to have a score or more temples, towers, and palaces larger than any of the buildings
The city is many islands linked together by arched stone bridges spanning innumerable canals (IV: 93)
Houses in Braavos look strange to a Westerosi. They are of grey stone with sharp-peaked tile roofs, and are four or five stories tall while remaining slender. They are built to close that they lean upon one another (IV: 93)
There is little or no use of thatching for roofs in Braavos, and buildings constructed of timber are rare because Braavos has little in the way of wood (IV: 93)
North of the nearer of the two harbors is a great canal that goes straight into the heart of the city. There are several bridges that cross it. The first seen is a many-arched stone bridge decorated with carvings featuring half a hundred kinds of fish, crabs, and squids the second is carved with leafy vines, and the third is painted with a thousand eyes. Lesser canals open up along this waterway, and even smaller ones as well. Some of the houses are built above the waterway and turn it into a sort of tunnel (IV: 93)
Huge flat-bottomed barges heaped with crates and barrels pushed along by twenty polemen on a side, fancy floating houses with lanterns of colored glass, velvet drapes, and bronze figureheads, and slender boats shaped like water serpents with painted heads and upraised tails poled alon by men who stand at the sterns in cloaks of grey and brown and deep moss green all travel the waterways of Braavos (IV: 93)
In the distance, towards or beyond the heart of the city, is a massive aqueduct like a grey stone roadway supported by three tiers of arches travelling southwards. It looms above the canals and houses. Called the sweetwater river, it brings fresh water from the mainland across the mudflats and the briny shallows (IV: 93)
Great statues line the great waterway past the third bridge, monuments to past Sealords of Braavos. The statues wear robes of bronze, and hold items such as books, swords, or hammers. One example holds a golden star in an upraised hand, and another upends a jar that pours water into the canal (IV: 93-94)
Six bridges beyond the statues to the Sealords and upon the right bank of the great canal is the Temple of the Moonsingers, a huge snow-white marble building topped by a giant silvered dome whose milk glass windows show all the phases of the moon. A pair of marble maidens flank its gates, tall as the statues of the Sealords, supporting a crescent-shaped lintel (IV: 94)
Beyond the Temple of the Moonsingers is a temple to the Lord of Light, an edifice of red stone that looks as stern as a fortress. At the top of its great square tower is a blazing fire in an iron brazier twenty feet across. Smaller fires flank the bronze doors of the temple (IV: 94)
Beyond the temple of R'hllor is a huge, brick building covered in lichen that could be mistaken for a storehouse. It is the Holy Refuge, sometimes called the Warren, where the small gods forgotten by the world are honored (IV: 94)
A small canal leading to the right from the great canal passes between the looming walls of the Holy Refuge. Taking this canal, one passes through a tunnel and then out into the light again where yet more shrines can be seen (IV: 94)
After passing between the walls of the Warren, a bend and then another bridge brings into view on the left a rocky knoll with a windowless temple of dark grey stone at its top. A flight of steep stone steps leads down to covered docks, where there are stone pilings (IV: 94)
Mummers in Braavos play out written stories, instead of making up farces as they do elsewhere (IV: 217)
The Braavosi diet features fish, eel, and oysters (IV: 217)
There is a saying in Braavos: "The Iron Bank will have its due" (IV: 245)
The brackish waters surrounding Braavos are full of fish and shellfish, thanks to the slow, brown river that enters the lagoon from the south and spreads across reeds, tidal pools, and mudflats (IV: 315)
Braavosi eat a great deal of fish. Dishes might include fish spiced with sea salt and cracked peppercorns, eels with chopped garlics. Saffron might also be used, but it is very costly (IV: 315)
The Faceless Men of Braavos are older than the founding of the Secret City (IV: 321)
The rise of the Titan of Braavos, the Unmasking of Uthero, and the Founding are important events in the past of Braavos (IV: 321)
The Braavosi count their days differently from Westeros (IV: 323)
Beneath the Drowned Town are wharves where fishmongers push their barrows, selling cockles and mussels and clams to the sailors (IV: 326)
The Ragman's Harbor is in the west of Braavos, crowded with ships from the other Free Cities and many other lands (IV: 327, 381)
Many buildings in Braavos have sharp-peaked roofs (IV: 377)
Good citizens of Braavos retreat indoors, closing shutters and barring doors, when night falls. It's said the night belongs to bravos and courtesans (IV: 378)
The House of the Red Hands provides healers to those who can afford to pay. The healers wear robes embroidered in swirls of red and white (IV: 379)
Even in autumn, Braavos is a busy port (IV: 379)
Drinkable water is brought by the sweetriver river, a great brick aqueduct. Rich men pipe it directly into their homes, while the poor fill buckets at public fountains. The water from the canals is not drinkable without safely boiling it (IV: 380)
Trees do not grow in Braavos except in courts and gardens of wealthy Braavosi. Firewood is costly, as is dung since the Braavosi use boats instead of horses, because they must be brought in by barges (IV: 381)
The Braavosi leave pines uncut on the islands surrounding the secret city, to act as windbreaks (IV: 381)
The Purple Harbor is located on the north side of Braavos. Only Braavosi are allowed to use it, mooring their ships beneath the domes and towers of the Sealord's Palace (IV: 381, 508)
There are innumerable small piers and berths in Braavos, used by fishers, crabbers, shrimpers, and more (IV: 381)
Braavos is full of cats (IV: 384)
Bravos swagger through Braavos at night in parti-colored finery, looking to pick fights so that they can prove their skills. Most will fight with little cause, and some with no cause at all (IV: 384)
The best alehouses, inns, and brothels are near the Purple Harbor and the Moon Pool. However, the establishments at the Ragman's Harbor are likelier to draw patrons who speak the Common Tongue of Westeros (IV: 384)
The Inn of the Green Eel, the Black Bargeman, Moroggo's, the Foghouse, the Outcast Inn, the House of Seven Lamps, and the Mummer's Ship are inns near the Ragman's Harbor (IV: 384, 386)
Serpent boats and their pilots tie up near inns, waiting for patrons (IV: 384)
There is a small winesink beneath the second arch of Nabbo's Bridge (IV: 384)
The Cattery is a brothel near the Ragman's Harbor (IV: 384)
Brothels in Braavos hang a red lantern outside their door to mark themselves out (IV: 384)
In Braavos, the nobles wear somber charcoals, purples, blacks, and deep blues while the braavos wear bright, many-colored garments (IV: 384)
The Happy Port is a brothel near the Ragman's Harbor, across from the Mummer's Ship (IV: 385-386)
Wearing a sword at night in Braavos means you are willing to be challenged to duel (IV: 385)
A trader's vessel might journey from Braavos to Duskendale and on to Pentos. Depending on the winds, the journey to Duskendale and the journey on to Pentos might well be completed in the same time (IV: 386)
A broad waterway known as the Long Canal. Travelling south along it towards the fishmarket, one might pass the green copper domes of the Palace of Truth, tall stone towers of the Antaryons and Prestayns, and through the great arches of the sweetwater river to the district called Silty Town where buildings were smaller and less grand (IV: 505)
In the early hours, the Long Canal is almost devoid of traffic, but as the day progresses it is almost choked with serpent boats and barges (IV: 505)
The Titan's roar at sunrise is faint with distance but still audible in Braavos (IV: 505-506)
The fishmarket is filled with many people, haggling over the morning's catch (IV: 506)
Braavos is foggy (IV: 506)
The very existence of Braavos was a secret for a century, and its location was hidden for three centuries more (IV: 506)
Braavos was founded by people from many different lands, with half a hundred different gods between them, who fled there to find safety from the Valyrians. It's said that the Nine Free Cities are the daughters of Valyria, but that Braavos is a bastard (IV: 506-507)
The Blue Lantern is an inn (IV: 507)
Various plays: The Lord of the Woeful Countenance, Seven Drunken Oarsmen, The Song of the Rhoyne, The Conqueror’s Two Wives, and The Merchant’s Lusty Lady are plays (IV: 507, 509)
There are booksellers (IV: 507)
Roof rats are boys and youths who prowl the roofs of Braavos, allegedly practicing thievery (IV: 508)
There are alleys about the Moon Pool (IV: 508)
Ragman's Harbor is the port open to all ships not from Braavos. It is poorer, dirtier, and and noisier than the Purple Harbor (IV: 508)
At Ragman's Harbor, the trade tongue is often spoken, a coarse argot that has developed using words from a dozen languages (many of them insults) and hand gestures (IV: 508)
The fig, a rude gesture (IV: 508)
Many people make their living around Ragman's Harbor, including porters, mummers, ropemakers, sailmenders, taverners, brewers, bakers, beggars, and whores (IV: 509)
The towers of the mightier families have guards at their gates (IV: 509)
Following the sweetwater river will lead to the Moon Pool (IV: 509)
Officials of Braavos, called keyholders and justiciars who wear drab coats of brown or grey (IV: 509)
Eel fights put on for sport at places like the Spotted Eel (IV: 510)
Some dockside whores are vicious, robbing and sometimes killing their customers (IV: 510-511)
The courtesans of Braavos are famed the world over. Singers make songs about them, goldsmiths and jewelers give them gifts, craftsmen pursue their custom, merchant princes pay richly for the privilege of having them on their arm at public events, and bravos fight and die in their name (IV: 511)
Each courtesan has a barge and her own liveried servants. The courtesans are known by names such as the Poetess, the Veiled Lady, the Moonshadow, the Merling Queen, or the Black Pearl (IV: 511, 512)
The Black Pearl, Bellegere Otharys, is allegedly the most famous courtesan of Braavos, and the fourth of her line to carry that name. Her great-grandmother Bellegere was a pirate queen who was taken as a lover by a Targaryen prince, who got a daughter on her. The daughter became a courtesan, and her daughter Bellonara after her. The current Black Pearl is Bellonara's daughter (IV: 512)
A performing seal (IV: 512)
The Sealord is always in need of oarsmen (IV: 513)
The inn and brothel called the Mummer's Ship is a listing hulk (IV: 513)
Bravos wear parti-colored breeches (IV: 514)
Captains and ship owners are higher class clientele for a singer, seeking to rise in fame so he can play at the Purple Harbor and perhaps even the Sealord's Palace (IV: 515)
When a Braavosi galley returning from the Jade Sea stopped at Pentos, it brought the grey death -- greyscale -- with it, as well as cloves, saffron, jet, jade, scarlet samite, and green silk. The Pentoshi slew the oarsmen as they came ashore and burned the ship at anchor, but the rats escaped the ship and spread the illness among the populace. Two thousand are said to have died before the plague ran its course (V: 80)

Last revised February 21, 2016
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12.2.2.1. The Faceless Men

On Braavos there is a society of assassins called the Faceless Men. One could hire an army of sellswords for half the price they demand, and that for a merchant. The cost for killing a princess would be huge. Fees for assassinations are negotiated with the Guild of the Faceless Men, and are determined by such factors as the prominence and the difficulty to kill the target (1: 297. SSM: 1)
The Faceless Men of Braavos are known to use the poison called "the strangler" amongst the maesters of Westeros (II: 15)
A man (possibly a Faceless Man of Braavos) literally changes his face and other features. His long straight hair of red and white turns to a dark cap of curls, his cheeks grow fuller, his nose hooks, a scar appears on his cheek, and a gold tooth appears in his mouth. His manner of speaking changes as well (II: 505)
A Faceless Man gives a small, worn iron coin to someone. It meant to be given to any man of Braavos accompanied by the words, "valar morghulis". The man it is given to will respond "valar dohaeris" and touch his brow with two fingers before setting out to take the coin bearer to Braavos (II: 505. III: 854)
"Valar morghulis" is a well-known phrase in High Valyrian, and means "All men must die" (III: 308)
The iron coin meant to be given to a man of Braavos with the words "valar morghulis" is an old with queer words on one side and a man’s head on the other side that is so worn no features can be made out (II: 650)
Braavosi who know that someone is to be taken to the temple of the Many-Faced God act in two ways: some will shun them, and others will give them gifts and make sure that they are aware of their names (IV: 88)
Most other temples to gods are located on an isle in the center of the city, including the temple to the Many-Faced God (IV: 89)
A small canal leading to the right from the great canal passes between the looming walls of the Holy Refuge. Taking this canal, one passes through a tunnel and then out into the light again where yet more shrines can be seen (IV: 94)
After passing between the walls of the Warren, a bend and then another bridge brings into view on the left a rocky knoll with a windowless temple of dark grey stone at its top. A flight of steep stone steps leads down to covered docks, where there are stone pilings (IV: 94)
The temple of the Many-Faced God has a sharply peaked black tile roof, similar to the houses of Braavos. At the top of its steep steps is a set of carved wooden doors twelve feet high. The left-hand door is made of pale weirwood, the right-hand door of ebony, though the carved moon face at the point where the doors join reverses this (IV: 94-95, 97)
The doors of the temple can open without any apparent human agency (IV: 95)
The temple can seem larger on the inside than it did from the outside. It is dark and gloomy, and contains massive statues of many more than seven gods, with red candles lit about their feet. The floor is made of rough stone (IV: 95, 96)
The nearest statues after passing through the temple doors is that of a woman twelve feet tall, with tears apparently streaming down her face to collect in a bowl she cradles in her arms. Beyond her is a lion-headed man seated on an ebony throne. On the other side of the doors is a huge rearing horse of bronze and iron. Farther on one can see a great stone face, a pale infant with a sword, a shaggy black goat as big as an aurochs, a hooded man leaning on a staff, and many more. Between the statues are shadowy hidden alcoves or the occasional burning candle (IV: 95-96)
The air in the temple is warm and heavy, and can contain smells both familiar and unfamiliar (IV: 96)
In the center of the temple is an inky black pool of water ten feet across. It is lit by red candles. There are stone cups all along its rim, and it seems that the water is poisoned (IV: 96)
Around the pool are alcoves with hard stone beds, where those who have come to die can lay themselves down (IV: 96)
Priests of the Many-Faced God wear cowled robes that are black on one side and white on the other (IV: 96-97)
The temple is called the House of Black and White by a priest (IV: 97)
The Many-Faced God grants the mercy of death in his embrace. The priests believe that he is the face behind all the myriad gods, and call him Him of Many Faces (IV: 97)
The priest is able to create an illusion to make his face look like a yellowed skull with a few scraps of skin clinging to its cheek and a worm wriggling in its empty eye socket. When touched, however, it melts away like a shadow (IV: 97-98)
It's said no whisper is too faint to be heard in the House of Black and White (IV: 312)
Many prayers wishing the deaths of others are heard in the House of Black and White (IV: 312)
The Faceless Men see themselves as the servants of Him of Many Faces, and have no say in who lives or dies (IV: 313)
Besides the two priests, the House of Black and White maintains several acolytes, two servants, and a cook (IV: 313)
Acolytes of the House of Black and White wear black and white robes, but without cowls and with the black on the left side and the white on the right. Priests wear the colors reversed (IV: 313)
The staff of the House of Black and White pray each dawn before breaking their fast. The prayers are in the Braavosi dialect of Valyrian (IV: 314)
The temple is never full and there are no paeans or hymns sung (IV: 314)
The House of Black and White has altars to some thirty different gods. The Weeping Woman is favored by old women, the Lion of Night is preferred by rich men, the Hooded Wayfarer by poor men. Soldiers light candles for Bakkalon, the Pale Child, while sailors prefer the Moon-Pale Maiden and the Merling King. Even the Stranger has a shrine (IV: 314)
The temple stands on a knoll which has many passageways hewn into it. Priests and acolytes sleep in the first level, servants in the second level, and the third level is holy sanctum forbidden to all but the priests and those they bring with them (IV: 314)
Vaults in the House of Black and White contain great arrays of weapons as well as clothing from the richest silks to the foulest rags (IV: 314)
The priests believe that the Many-Faced God sends a dark angel to walk beside a person through their life. When the sins and suffering come to be too much, the dark angel takes them to the nightlands, where the stars always burn bright (IV: 316)
The candles in the House of Black and White have a soothing scent that smells like those things a person best loves (IV: 316)
The dead are carried to the second level by servants, and then their bodies are stripped and washed by acolytes before being taken down to the holy sanctum. Servants sort through the clothing of those who die at the temple, counting out the coins in their purses and gathering the other belongings they left with them (IV: 316-317)
Shutters provide some privacy at each alcove with an altar (IV: 316)
Those who choose to die and drink from the black pool will then stretch themselves out on one of the stone beds in the alcoves behind the various gods (IV: 316)
When a body is found, a priest says a prayer over them and makes sure that they are dead (IV: 317)
Those who wish to become Faceless Men must give everything over to the Many-Faced God. It is a hard life. Those who cannot make that choice are offered the opportunity to do whatever they please. A girl is told she could become apprenticed to one of the famed courtesans, or married to any kind of man she wished, or provided a place as a servant in some merchant's house (IV: 318-319)
There have been many Faceless Men over the centuries, serving the Many-Faced God, but very few of them have been women because women are said to be made to bring life into the world, while the Faceless Men bring death, and no one is able to do both (IV: 318)
The Faceless Men of Braavos are older than the founding of the Secret City (IV: 321)
It's said the first Faceless Man existed in Valyria. There he brought death to the slaves who lived horrid lives toiling in the heat of the Fourteen Flames, praying for an end. He came to realize that the many gods they prayed to were one god, and that he was an instrument of the gods (IV: 321-322)
The Faceless Men may have had a role in the Doom of Valyria (IV: 322)
The Faceless Men have made an art of reading faces and body language, which allows them to know when someone is speaking truth or a lie (IV: 322)
Beneath an acolytes robes are small clothes of fine linen and a black undertunic reaching to the knees (IV: 323)
Acolytes play a lying game, attempting to determine what is a lie and what is a truth based on observing their opponent's face and body (IV: 323)
The poisons used by the House of Black and White can stunt growth (IV: 324)
Meetings are held in the House of Black and White with various men who seem to come from different places and classes. One man has a different beard and nose every time he visits (IV: 324)
Years of education and sacrifice are required to learn how to make a proper glamor, such as the Faceless Men do (IV: 325)
The Faceless Men will use mummer's tricks to change their faces as well. They learn to rule the muscles of their faces to this end (IV: 325)
An apprentice of the Faceless Men may be sent out to spend most of their time in Braavos, working in some menial labor so that they can observe the world about them and learn new things. Each black moon might mark their return to the temple for a time (IV: 326, 507)
The Lion of the Night is a god of Yi Ti (IV: 507)
The Faceless Men make use of many poisons: sweetsleep, the tears of Lys, pastes spiced with basilisk blood, and more (IV: 516-517)
A man whose daughter was nearly poisoned to death by her step-mother gave up two-thirds of his wealth and his daughter to the Many-Faced God to have his revenge on her (IV: 517)
The knowledge of the Faceless Men is passed down, but not through families (SSM: 1)
The Faceless Men are by and large to be found on Braavos (SSM: 1)
The Faceless Men and the Sorrowful Men have very different outlooks and approaches to what they do (SSM: 1)

Last revised November 17, 2009
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12.2.3. Lys

Many Lyseni have blue eyes, and not a few have blond hair (I: 85, 492. III: 109)
Lys has access to the sea (I: 141)
Lys makes fine tapestries (I: 161)
Lys makes use of slaves (I: 213)
Lys is a group of islands (I: 488)
Lys is known for sweet, heady perfumes (I: 490)
Sweet red wines from Lys (I: 492)
White wines from Lys (I: 492)
Hair is worn curled and perfumed (I: 492)
The alchemists of Lys know how to make poisons, such as one consisting of a crystalized potion known as 'the strangler' among the maesters of Westeros (II: 15)
The poisoners of Lys are said to favor hollow rings filled with poisons (II: 16)
The red priests have a great temple on Lys (II: 113)
A Lyseni might eat a roasted gull stuffed with mushrooms, fennel, and onion (II: 115)
Lyseni relish rich foods such as snails and lampreys (III: 110)
Some Lyseni galleys have bronze figureheads (III: 110)
A very tall Lyseni youth (III: 261)
Lys is more populous than Astapor on Slaver's Bay, and may be one of the most populous of the Free Cities (III: 266)
Lyseni lancers (III: 347)
Lyseni, Braavosi, and Pentosihi are great lovers of song, and generous with those who please them (III: 356)
Lys fights over the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands (III: 433, 756. SSM: 1)
There are pleasure houses in Lys and Tyrosh (III: 479)
There may exist a love goddess peculiar to Lys (III: 664)
Lys appears to be a good market to sell slaves to (III: 809)
Lysene pirates can be found on and around the Stepstones (IV: 440)
It can be inferred that Lys is one of the southernmost Free Cities, along with Volantis (IV: 440)
Lyseni often haggle over prices (IV: 508)
Tales claim that half the whores in Lys have the silver-gold hair of the Valyrians (IV: 531)
Lys has a warm climate (V: 20)
There are Targaryen descendants probably existing in Lys, descendants of bastards of Prince Aerion Brightflame when he was exiled there by his father (SSM: 1)

Last revised March 15, 2013
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12.2.4. Qohor

Qohor makes fine tapestries (I: 161)
The Forest of Qohor takes two weeks to ride through. The leaves of the trees are golden and their trunks are as wide as city gates (I: 193)
Qohorik smiths know how to put color directly in metal, getting very deep colors (I: 235)
A claim that a smith can learn how to reforge Valyrian steel at the forges of Qohor (I: 235)
Reference to the Black Goat, the chief god of Qohor (I: 530. IV: 507. SSM: 1)
Slaves can be bought in Qohor, although it might be done only by powerful men who can flaunt the laws (II: 646)
The tale of the Three Thousand of Qohor begins four hundred or more years ago, when the Dothraki first came out of the east to sack and burn every town and city in their path. The khal who led them was named Temmo, and his khalasar numbered 50,000 at least, half of them braided warriors with bells in their hair (III: 96)
The Qohorik knew that Temmo came and strengthened their walls, doubled their guard, hired two free companies (the Bright Banners and the Second Sons), and bought 3,000 Unsullied. As the Three Thousand came to Qohor after their long march from Astapor, they saw that a battle had ended and the Dothraki had sent the sellsword companies to flight and defeated much of the Qohorik army. The horselords feasted to sack the city on the morrow, but when morning came the 3,000 Unsullied were drawn up before the gates with the Black Goat standard flying over them (III: 96, 97)
Temmo, disdaining his foes on foot, charged the Three Thousand eighteen times. The Unsullied locked their shields, lowered their spears, and stood firm against the 20,000 Dothraki screamers. Three times the khal sent his archers past, arrows raining down on the Unsullied, but they only lifted their shields. In the end only 600 Unsullied remained, but more than 12,000 Dothraki were dead upon the field, including Khal Temmo, his bloodriders, his kos, and all his sons (III: 97)
After the battle of the Three Thousand, on the fourth day as morning broke, the new khal led a procession of the survivors past the gates. One by one, each man cut off his braid and threw it down before the feet of the Three Thousand. Since then, the city guard of Qohor has been made solely of Unsullied, every one of whom carries a tall spear from which hangs a braid of human hair (III: 97)

Last revised July 29, 2009
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12.2.5. Norvos

Norvos makes fine tapestries (I: 161)
A land of rolling hills and terraced farms with small villages sitting behind white stucco walls (I: 192)
Norvoshi wear upswept, long dyed mustaches (I: 494)
Norvos has magisters (III: 272)
Norvos gives lavishly to passing khals (III: 272)
There are bearded priests in Norvos who train men to the use and keeping of the longaxe (IV: 32)
Unwanted boys can sold by Norvoshi families to the bearded priests (IV: 35)
Those trained by the bearded priests "wed their axes" around the age of sixteen, swearing vows which are said to be simple for the simple men who swear them: "Serve. Obey. Protect." They brand the men on the chest with a brand shaped like an axe, and remind them to keep their longaxes sharp (IV: 36-37)
Norvos has two distinct quarters, the high city on the hill and the low city by the river (IV: 36)
There are three great bells in the city which have names. Noom has a deep peal, Narrah has a proud and strong peal, and Nyel's peal is said to sound like laughter (IV: 36, 597)
A yearly festival features the eating of wintercake (made of ginger, pine nuts, and bits of cherry) and the drinking of nahsa, a drink of fermented goat's milk laced with honey. During the festival, bears dance down the Sinner's Steps (IV: 36-37, 597)
Men trained by the bearded priests might wear heavy horsehair capes and studded leather tunics, along with iron halfhelms crested by iron spikes (IV: 37)
Norvos is sometimes called Great Norvos, at least by Norvoshi (IV: 40)
Norvos is far larger than the shadow city of Sunspear (IV: 40)
The Norvoshi do not foster out children (IV: 301)

Last revised July 16, 2009
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12.2.6. Myr

The lenscrafters of Myr are unsurpassed (I: 51)
Myr has fine carpets (I: 161)
A locket with a miniature painted in the vivid Myrish style (I: 233)
There is a Myrish song called "The Seasons of My Love" (I: 382. II: 292, 467, 576)
Myr makes intricate lace (I: 490)
Pale green nectar wines of Myr (I: 492. V: 22)
Myr has its own dialect of bastard Valyrian, separate from the other dialects of the Free Cities (I: 603)
Men of Myr are known as Myrmen (II: 12, 109)
Beautiful works of art, such as old carved figures of the Seven, could sell handsomely in Myr (II: 116)
Myrish also produces ornate carved screens depicting flowers and fancies and dreaming maidens (II: 174)
There are ungainly crossbows from Myr that can throw three quarrels at a time (II: 297)
People of the city seem to be dark-eyed, dark-haired, and olive skinned (III: 65. IV: 106)
Myr touches the sea (III: 113)
Sellswords are common in Tyrosh (III: 267)
Myr has magisters (III: 272)
Myr gives lavishly to passing khals (III: 272)
Ornate Myrish lace is sometimes used to decorate clothing, such as the deep vee of a bodice, in the Seven Kingdoms (III: 316)
Dove-grey Myrish lace (III: 316)
Myrish tend to have black hair and dark eyes (III: 321)
Myrish carpets are valuable (III: 408)
Myrish crossbowmen seem common (III: 440, 441)
Myrich lace the color of butter (III: 316)
A Myrish stilleto worn opposite an arakh with matching hilts shaped like naked and wanton golden women (III: 482)
Myrish lace used in a wedding gown (III: 667)
A far-eye from Myr can be called a Myrish eye (III: 779)
A splendid Myrish blanket (IV: 37)
Myr is far larger than the shadow city of Sunspear (IV: 40)
Myrish pirates can be found on and around the Stepstones (IV: 440)
Myr may have swamps (IV: 486)
Myr has a warm climate (V: 20)
Myrish fire wine (V: 72)

Last revised February 19, 2016
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12.2.7. Tyrosh

Tyroshi men wear brightly dyed forked beards (I: 30, 140)
The ruler of Tyrosh is called the Archon (I: 30)
The Tyroshi keep slaves (I: 30)
There is a particular Tyroshi accent, that can be heard in Tyroshi who speak the Common Tongue of Westeros (I: 139)
The Tyroshi are infamous for their avarice (I: 139)
Tyrosh appears to have access to the sea (I: 139)
In Tyrosh a kind of cake is baked named honeyfingers (I: 490)
Tyroshi pear brandy (I: 492)
Tyroshi armorsmiths can make fantastic helmets shaped like birds and animals, chased with precious metals (THK: 466)
The Tyroshi make a device with which a wet leather cord can be securely looped around the neck of a person. As they struggle to move forward (perhaps to reach a means of freeing themselves only a little out of their reach), the cord tightens so that eventually they strangle themselves (II: 583)
Sellswords are common in Tyrosh (III: 267)
Tyrosh fights over the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands (III: 433, 756. SSM: 1)
There are blue-eyed Tyroshi (III: 476)
Some Tyroshi wear pointed mustachios that they can paint to various hues, such as gold (III: 476)
There are pleasure houses in Tyrosh and Lys (III: 479)
Roro Uhoris was a smuggler, known up and down the narrow sea as the Blind Bastard even though he was neither blind nor a baseborn. He was executed by the Night's Watch after being caught in the Bay of Seals after having traded weapons to the wildlings (III: 608)
Vermillion-dyed beards (III: 676)
Following the failure of Daemon Blackfyre's rebellion in 196, Bittersteel and Daemon Blackfyre's surviving sons fled to Tyrosh where they plotted their return (TSS: 121. TMK: 650, 664)
Tyrosh is far larger than the shadow city of Sunspear (IV: 40)
Tyroshi are described as being boisterous and loud (IV: 508)
Ships pass the Bleeding Tower when entering Tyrosh harbor (IV: 521)

Last revised September 04, 2012
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12.2.8. Volantis

Sweet red wines from Volantis (I: 492)
It is the fashion to tattoo the faces of slaves and servants. A fool might be patterned in tattooed motley from neck to scalp (II: 6)
Volantis touches the sea (III: 113)
Volantene glass is valuable (III: 408)
Volantene sellswords cover themselves with fierce tattoos (III: 440)
Volantis is said to be in the west from Slaver's Bay, and may be the nearest of the Free Cities to that place (III: 807)
Volantis appears to be a good market to sell slaves to (III: 809)
There is noble blood in "old Volantis" (IV: 38)
Colloquo Votar was a Volantene adventurer who visited all the lands of the Jade Sea and wrote the Jade Compendium, a thick volume of tales and legends from the east (IV: 76, 85)
The game of cyvasse spread to Dorne from Volantis (IV: 186-187)
The direction taken in marching from the Disputed Lands to Volantis is the "wrong direction" if one means to cross the narrow sea Westeros (IV: 246)
Pieces in the game of cyvasse include elephants and dragons. Players arrange their squares, including mountains, at the beginning of the game (IV: 307, 590)
It can be inferred that Volatnis is one of the southernmost Free Cities, along with Lys (IV: 440. V: 20)
Lean, green galleys (IV: 510)
The Targaryens had been happy to sit on Dragonstone until Aegon developed his ambitions. There had also been pressure for Aegon to go east instead of west, with the Volantenes trying to convince Aegon and his sisters to join a grand alliance against other Free Cities (SSM: 1, 2)
Volantis has a warm climate (V: 20)
A Volantene coin is described as having a face on one side and a death's-head on the other (V: 29)
Fair hair and blue eyes are common in Volantis (V: 32)
The swiftest way from Pentos to Volantis is by sea (V: 71)
The direct distance between Volantis and Meereen is approximately 550 leagues (V: 73)
Volantis is the oldest and proudest of the Nine Free Cities (V: 73)

It is said there are five slaves to every free man in Volantis (V: 73)

Volantis is ruled by triarchs (V: 73)

Last revised February 19, 2016
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12.2.9. Lorath

Lorath is a group of islands in the sea (I: 488)

Last revised February 28, 2007
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